The latest figures show that use of credit cards has been declining in New Zealand with debit cards becoming popular among people in the country.

Electronic card spending remained almost flat since July and total transaction rose just 0.3 per cent in August, primarily due to rise in non-retail transactions as per information provided by Statistics New Zealand (Stats NZ).

Stats NZ said, "In August 2009, the core retail industry groups were all flat or slightly down. Trends for the value of transactions in the total, retail, and core retail series have all been increasing since January 2009."

Transactions with credit cards in August were 43.2 per cent of the total transactions as compared to 43.7 per cent in July. People carried out 1,064 million transactions as compared to 1,009 million in August 2008. Average transaction value dropped marginally to NZ$51.40 in May which stood at NZ$51.60 in August.